Intentions to Marry, 1878

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840390, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, March 5 2025

Page 708

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1878

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
5031	2 July 1878	Edmond George Staveley Isabella Maria Edwards	Edmond George Staveley Isabella Maria Edwards 💍 1878/2145	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 25	Rangland Christchurch	4 years 4 years	In the Murican Church	78/2094		2 July 1878	Rev. J. Flavell
5032	3 July 1878	George William Mason Maria Dennis	George William Mason Maria Dennis 💍 1878/3407	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 10 years	In the Wesleyan Church	78/2112		3 July 1878	Rev. W. Morley
5033	3 July 1878	James Wells Annie Bones Philpitt	James Wells Annie Bones Philpott 💍 1878/2132	Bachelor Spinster	Station Master	27 21	Papanui Papanui	4 years 20 years	In the Wesleyan Church	78/2083		3 July 1878	Rev. J. Crump
5034	3 July 1878	John Henry Berryman Harriet Barter Poulter	John Henry Berryman Harriet Barton Painter 💍 1878/2087	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	38 36	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 5 years	Registrar's Office	78/2076		3 July 1878	Registrar of Marriages, W.H.A. Marchman
5035	4 July 1878	Joseph Thomas Cox Jane Maria Ray	Joseph Thomas Cox Jane Maria Ray 💍 1878/2098	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 3 days	In the house, Christchurch	78/2050	Ann Maria Ray, mother	4 July 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
5036	4 July 1878	[illegible] Swale [illegible]		Spinster [illegible]	Servant [illegible]	30 [illegible]	Christchurch [illegible]	5 months [illegible]	St Michaels Church	78/1993		4 July 1878	Rev. E. G. Penny
5037	5 July 1878	Gabriel Kauntson Mary Heffirace		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 25	Christchurch Riccarton	1 year 1 year	Catholic Church	78/2366		5 July 1878	Rev. L. Ginaty
5038	6 July 1878	Charles Housen Unreath Davis		Bachelor Spinster	Sailmaker Servant	33 24	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 2 years	In the house, Christchurch	78/2052		6 July 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
5039	6 July 1878	Alfred John White Emily Bucket	Alfred John White Emily Bucket 💍 1878/2102	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter Servant	24 20	Christchurch Madras Street	2 years 10 years	In the house, Christchurch	78/2054	Henry Bucket, father	6 July 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
5040	6 July 1878	Thomas Birch Emma Henrys	Thomas Birch Emma Henry 💍 1878/2101	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Servant	22 24	Christchurch Tuam Street, Kaiapoi	4 months 4 days	In the house, Christchurch	78/2053	There is an error	6 July 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
5041	8 July 1878	George Rix Mary A. Gunnell	George Rix Mary McConnell 💍 1878/2104	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	23 20	Christchurch Tuam Street	6 days 5 months	In the house, Little Christchurch	78/2058	Person having no home, Thomas Moureau	8 July 1878	Rev. C. Fraser

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).